Geboortebedankjes / gifts for maternity visitors

In the Netherlands, or at least in my surroundings, it is custom to give a small token to people who come to visit a family with a new born baby. Some Dutch people never heard of it, but I don’t know any different. Maybe it’s more custom in rural areas? Or because I was raised close to Belgium where it is a custom too?

Anyway, as previously stated, my creativity was really booming when I was pregnant (creating a baby – might it be related?). I wanted to make my own thank-you for visiting and here’s something that you can’t use to remember my baby by, a little keepsake.

I’ve searched the internet for ideas, and decided I wanted to make a “cake” with sheep on top, and birth-candy inside each piece. Then I’ve searched what felt like the entire internet for little sheep figures. I finally found them at http://bijzonderebedankjes.nl/Schaapjes.

I found templates to make the pie pieces and ofcourse altered probably beyond recognition again. If I would do it again I’d not make a pointed end but a flat end.

It was in a way relaxing to cut all the pieces out. Ofcourse, you will start to feel it in your hands after the x-th cut, but this kind of repetitive, mindless cutting was enjoyable. Maybe even a kind of meditation, a way to calm my mind.

Anyway, this is my pattern. I tried to make maximum use of the available paper space. Two layouts on the page are a few milimeters smaller (sorry I forgot which one…) but that is ok as then the pie will fit better – if it’s all the same size it is difficult to have them fit in the 12 sided shape. That’s why I advise a small alteration and make flat ends, as now the pointy ends are too thick to fit in a circle well unless you have a few smaller ones.

If you want to receive the original file just send me a mail at daqa @ daqa.eu requesting the pie layout and I’ll mail you asap the open office draw file. (Yup, been messing around in several programs and in the end used that, not the best to use…)

I used 3 colours: 2 greens and one light blue, and used only 2 colours in each pie.

Materials used and a finished piebase

Draft of a pieplate to keep the pieces together

After I made the boxes, I decorated them with pieces from a heart-ribbon and a bowtie-ribbon and some self-sticking tape. On the feet of the sheep I put dubble sided adhesive which would go onto the boxes later, after I had written the baby’s name and date of birth on the bottom. I also made tags with his name and a date, which were to be adjusted and printed after he was born. And then tied around the neck of the sheep. (That was the least fun part.) Oh and I put candy in the boxes and closed it also with a tiny piece of self adhesive ribbon before glueing the hearts and bowties on it. The blue boxes had a white bowtie on it, and the green boxes a heart. The sheep alternated in positions.

All that work, and I made too many and forgot to hand them out lots of times. I think I had about 4 layers of boxes. I had 2 “plates”, one to show and one as resource. The resource one was stacked 3 rows high and didn’t have the sheep on them yet (I can’t stack sheep!).

Here is some of the remaining pie:

Remaining pie

Different sheep and boxes (funny how the colours almost look the same!)

One thought on “Geboortebedankjes / gifts for maternity visitors”

It is always a little gift when someone took the time to comment, feedback is much appreciated. / Het is een klein cadeautje wanneer iemand een reactie achterlaat, feedback wordt gewaardeerd! Cancel reply

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Welcome!

Hello, welcome to my blog! I am...
Debbie (nickname Daqa); the partner of a wonderful man; mother of 3 kids (2011, 2013, 2014); sister; aunt; Dutch; dog and cat lover; gamer (or should I say geek?); IT-consultant living in Bunde, Zuid-Limburg, The Netherlands. I love to try out different crafts, but mostly, I like to make paper things.

My blog is about crafting, and my life and things I find interesting. (pictures I've taken, events in my life and things or ideas I find worth thinking about). I hope you enjoy reading my blog! Still want to know more about me and my blog? Click the image!

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